latter period. The law-court, once the castle, partly dating from the 12th century, possesses fine tapestries of the 17th century. A statue commemorates the birth at Montdidier of Antoine Parmentier (1737–1813), with whose name are connected the beginnings of potato-culture in France. The town has a sub-prefecture and a tribunal of first instance; its industries include tanning and the manufacture of zinc-white.
Held first by its own lords, afterwards by the counts of Crépy and Valois, Montdidier passed to the Crown in the 12th century, at the end of which it was granted a charter of liberties. The town offered a brave and successful resistance to the Spanish troops in 1636.
MONT-DORE-LES-BAINS, a watering-place of central France in the department of Puy-de-Dôme, situated at a height of 3440 ft., on the right bank of the Dordogne not far from its source and 31 m. by road S.W. of Clermont-Ferrand. Pop. (1906), 1677. The Monts Dore close the valley towards the south. The thermal springs of Mont Dore, now numbering twelve, were known to the Romans. Bicarbonate of soda, iron, and arsenic are the principal ingredients of the waters, which are used both for drinking and bathing, baths of high temperature being characteristic of the treatment; they are efficacious in cases of pulmonary consumption, bronchitis, asthma, and nervous and rheumatic paralysis. From the elevation and exposure of the Valley, the climate of Mont-Dore-les-Bains is severe, and the season only lasts from the 15th of, June to the 15th of September. The bath-house was rebuilt in 1891–1894. In the “park,” along the Dordogne, relics from the old Roman baths have been collected. The surrounding country, with its fir woods, pastures, waterfalls and mountains, is very attractive. To the south is the Puy de Sancy (6188 ft.), the loftiest peak of central France.
MONTEAGLE, THOMAS SPRING-RICE, 1st Baron (1790–1866), English statesman, son of S. E. Rice and Catherine Spring, came of a Limerick family, whose ancestor was Sir Stephen Rice (1637–1715), chief baron of the Irish exchequer and a leading Jacobite. In 1820 he became Whig member for Limerick (from 1832 member for Cambridge); and after holding minor offices became secretary for war and the colonies in 1834 and in 1835–1839 chancellor of the exchequer. He was disappointed
in not obtaining the speakership, but in 1839 was
created Baron Monteagle of Brandon (a title intended earlier for his ancestor Sir Stephen Rice), and made controller of the exchequer. He differed from the government as regards the exchequer control over the treasury, and the abolition of the old exchequer (q.v.) was already determined upon when he died
on the 7th of February 1866. His eldest son, Stephen Edmund Spring-Rice (1814–1865), deputy chairman of the board of customs, having predeceased him, he was succeeded in the title by his grandson, Thomas, 2nd baron (b. 1849). Another son was father of S. E. Spring-Rice (1856–1902), of the treasury, and of Sir Cecil A. Spring-Rice (b. 1859), the diplomatist.
MONTEAGLE, WILLIAM PARKER, 4th Baron, and 11th Baron Morley (1575–1622), was the eldest son of Edward Parker, 10th Baron Morley (d. 1618), and of Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of William Stanley, 3rd Baron Monteagle (d. 1581). When quite a youth he married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Tresham, and was styled Lord Monteagle in right of his mother. He was allied with many Roman Catholic families, and during the reign of Elizabeth was in sympathy with their cause. He received knighthood when with Essex in Ireland in 1599, and in 1601 took part in the latter’s rebellion in London, when he was punished by imprisonment and a fine of £8000 He subsequently in 1602 joined in sending the mission to Spain inviting Philip III. to invade England. He was intimate with Catesby and others, and according to Father Garnet expressed an opinion some few months before gunpowder plot that the Romanists had a good opportunity of making good their claims by taking up arms against the king. It is certain that he was one of those who acquiesced in James I.’s accession and assisted Southampton in securing the Tower for the king. He was taken into favour, and received a summons to attend the parliament of the 5th of November 1605 as Lord Monteagle. On the 26th of October 1605, while sitting at supper at Hoxton, he received the celebrated letter giving warning of the gunpowder plot, probably written by Francis Tresham. After having caused it to be read aloud by Ward, a gentleman in his service and an intimate friend of Winter, one of the chief conspirators, he took it to Whitehall and showed it to Lord Salisbury and other ministers. On the 4th of November he accompanied Lord Suffolk, the lord chamberlain, in his visit to the vault under the parliament house, where Guy Fawkes was found. Monteagle received £700 a year for his services in averting the
disaster. In 1609 he was chosen a member of the council of the Virginia Company and subscribed to its funds. The same year “disorders in his house” are reported, probably referring to his harbouring of Roman Catholic students from St Omer (Cal. of St Pap: Dom: 1603–1610, p. 533). In 1618, on the death of his father, he was summoned to parliament as Baron Morley and Monteagle. He died on the 1st of July 1622 at Great Hallingbury, Essex, where he was buried. By his marriage with Elizabeth Tresham he had, besides daughters, three sons, the eldest of whom, Henry, (d. 1655) succeeded him as 12th Baron. Morley and 5th Baron Monteagle. These baronies fell into abeyance when Henry’s son Thomas died about 1686.
MONTE CASSINO, an isolated hill overhanging the town of
Cassinum, about midway between Rome and Naples. Hither
St Benedict migrated from Subiaco in the early years of the
6th century, and established the monastery that became the
metropolis of Western monachism. About 580–590 it was sacked
by the Lombards, and the monks fled to Rome, where they were
established at the Lateran basilica. The monastery was rebuilt
in 720, again destroyed by the Saracens in 884, and restored
seventy years later. It reached its highest point of prosperity
and influence from 1059 to 1105, under Desiderius (who became
Pope Victor III. in 1087) and Oderisius. The abbot became
overlord of an extensive territory and bishop of several dioceses:
now, though not a bishop, he is ordinary of seven dioceses.
At the dissolution of monasteries in 1866 Monte Cassino was
spared, owing mainly to a remonstrance by English well-wishers
of United Italy. The monastery became a national monument
and the monks were recognized as custodians. There is a large
secondary school with 250 boys, and rich archives.
See L. Tosti, Storia della badia di M.C. (1841; 2nd ed., 1888); Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchenlexikon (2nd ed.) and Herzog, Realencyklopädie (3rd ed.). (E. C. B.)
MONTECATINI, two much-frequented mineral baths of
Tuscany, Italy. (1) Montecatini in Val di Cecina, in the province
of Pisa, 5 m. W. of Volterra. Pop. (1901), 5009. The water
is saline, with a temperature of 78·8° F. There are copper
mines, which have been worked since the 15th century, 1358 ft.
above sea-level. (2) Montecatini in Val di Nievole, in the
province of Lucca, 7 m. W. by S. of Pistoja, 105 ft. above sea-level.
Pop. (1901), 3048 (Bagni di Montecatini); 2856 (Montecatini).
The springs, which number ten, are saline, and range
in temperature from 82·4° to 86° F. The water is both drunk
and used for bathing by some 40,000 visitors annually, and is
exported in bottles. There is also a natural vapour bath
(80°–95° F.) in the Grotta Giusti (so-called from the satirist
Giuseppe Giusti, a native of the place), at Monsummano near
by, discovered in 1849. Another attraction of the place is the
gardens of Collodi. At the town of Montecatini, on the hill
above (951 ft.), the Florentines were defeated by Uguccione
della Faggiuola of Pisa in 1315.
MONTE CORVINO, GIOVANNI DI (c. 1247–1328), Franciscan missionary, traveller and statesman, founder of the earliest Roman Catholic missions in India and China, and archbishop of Peking. In 1272 he was commissioned by the emperor Michael Palaeologus, to Pope Gregory X., to negotiate for the reunion of Greek and Latin churches. From 1275 to 1289 he laboured incessantly as a missionary in the Nearer and Middle East. In 1289 he revisited the Papal Court, and was sent out as Roman legate to the Great Khan, the Ilkhan of Persia, and other leading personages of the Mongol world, as well as to the
